A router provides communication between two different networks. For example, a router may allow communication between a wide area network (WAN) and a local area network (LAN). Depending on the particular application, routers perform a variety of termination, conversion, segmentation, reassembly, and addressing functions.
Existing routers are termination devices that terminate information communicated using a WAN protocol, such as asynchronous transfer mode (ATM). The router converts and routes the received information to a destination using a LAN protocol, such as Ethernet. The termination and subsequent routing of information is a processor-intensive activity that often degrades the quality of service or bandwidth available to network users. Continuing bandwidth demands from bursty traffic, the proliferation of high bandwidth applications like real-time video, and the overall increased use of data communication networks exacerbates this problem. Existing routers fail to provide modularity and scalability to accommodate these increased demands for fast and reliable data service.